Girl Gone Crazy
by FoxPhile
Summary: Happy and Paige have a heart to heart talk. An extended "what might have been" scene from 2.07 Crazy Train. Rated T for a little language.
**Title: Girl Gone Crazy**

 **Summary: Happy and Paige have a heart to heart talk** _ **.**_ **An extended "what might have been" scene from 2.07 Crazy Train.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own** _ **/scorpion**_ **. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I make no profit and no infringement of copyrights is intended.**

* * *

Happy stopped abruptly, realizing she wasn't alone in the loft. "Paige?" she gasped.

The young mother glanced up and took in the five foot 3 inch mechanic clothed in nothing but an oversize towel. "Oh my gosh!" She quickly rose from where she'd been sitting on the sofa. In three strides she was standing next to the only other female member of the team. "I'm so sorry," she continued in a whisper. "I completely forgot you were up here. Ralph is dead asleep." She glanced around frantically. "Are your clothes out here somewhere? Would you mind terribly getting dressed in the other room? I really don't want to move Ralph; he's out like a light."

"Chill, Paige, it's okay." Happy answered, making her way on tiptoe to the workbench and grabbing a duffle bag. "My stuff's right here. I'll just take it into the bedroom and I'll be done in a jiffy. I promise I'll be quiet as a mouse."

Putting one finger to her lips, she turned and went into the small bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Paige breathed a sigh of relief. With the towel around her, Happy was showing considerably less skin than Ralph might see when they visited the beach, but just the same, she would as soon her young son not be exposed to her half-naked teammate. She suspected he might have a little bit of a crush on Happy as it was.

When she heard the muted noise of a hair dryer, she glanced at her son, but he was undisturbed. Within moments, and now fully dressed, Happy emerged. Paige realized that she was, for Happy, dressed for an evening out. Her jacket was casual and more fashionable than what she usually wore and her hair was left down, the natural waves framing her face.

"You're going out?" she inquired, curious.

"Yeah, I gotta…a thing… with Chet tonight. I just gotta call and confirm."

Happy had nearly made her way to the stairs when she stopped, turned and slowly approached Paige.

"I was…uh… impressed with that slap you gave Walter. I didn't know you had it in you. You two okay?"

Paige could feel a blush rise in her cheeks. "I probably shouldn't have done that."

Happy dropped her duffle and grabbed a straight-backed chair, turning it around and sitting on it backwards, facing the team liaison.

"No. You should have. Look, Walter needs the shit slapped out of him occasionally. Trust me, I know. Word of caution, though – it's gonna take a lot more than a slap for you to get him to admit to having the sort of feelings that I suspect you want him to have. I've known him a long time, and that sort of thing scares the crap out of him."

Paige thought she couldn't be any more embarrassed, but when she realized that tears were forming in her eyes, she was mortified. What must the stoic Happy think of her, blubbering like a crazy lady?

"Well, he scared the crap out of me today!" She sputtered.

* * *

Walter turned back to his rocket, but his mind was no longer able to concentrate on the issue of rebuilding the engine. He pondered all that Ray had said.

" _Putting distance between you and people you care about? That doesn't end well."_

" _Don't let the distance get so far you can never recouple the train."_

Turning away from the rocket, he strode to the stairs and began to climb. About halfway up, he heard Happy's voice, and recalled that she had asked to use his loft to shower and change since Ray was now permanently installed in the Airstream.

"Look, you know me," Happy was saying. "I'm not the kind to be anyone's BFF. But woman to woman, you're gonna need to be awfully strong if you're planning to hook onto Walter O'Brien."

Walter turned, thinking he should not intrude on a private conversation. But Happy's next words made him stop.

"Toby makes it embarrassingly obvious how he feels, but with Walt, you two could be married with three kids before he gets up the cojones to tell you how he feels. Add to that his tendency to put himself in life-threatening situations and if you can't take it, you should just chuck those thoughts right into the garbage bin before you get in any deeper."

Married? Walter wondered where Happy got the idea that he and Paige – he assumed that was whom Happy was speaking to – would ever be married. Their relationship was nothing like that and never would be. Or would it? He recalled how he felt upon hearing that Paige and Ralph were trapped on a runaway subway train. But that was just concern for valued friends and team members, wasn't it?

" _Denial ain't just a river in Turkey my friend."_

Walter pushed Ray's voice into the back of his mind. Paige was responding.

"But...girl, I can't help it, that I feel like this. Part of me wants to shake him and at the same time I want to hug him and I can't do either of those things because... because..."

Because why? Walter wondered. He supposed Paige had every right to want to shake him. He knew she was often frustrated with him. He did want to know why she had slapped him earlier, though. It seemed an odd way to greet a teammate who had just risked his own life to save dozens of others.

"Because he puts on that 'I have no feelings or emotions and I don't know why you're doing this' face." Happy completed the other woman's sentence for her. "Look, I gotta get going or I'm gonna be late," she continued. "You should know, though, when Walt and I were stuck in that submarine, we both had a lot of time to think about… how the people we care about perceive us. We both agreed we aren't robots anymore. Walt is changing. He's starting to recognize that he has emotions and they have value. I'm not about to tell you what to do, but if you do decide he's worth all the effort, if you're patient, I don't think you'll be disappointed."

Walter heard footsteps then and realized his mechanic would be coming down the stairs. He quickly descended a couple of stairs, turned and began to climb again just in time to see Happy appear at the top of the stairs.

"On your way out?" he asked as they passed midway, trying his best to sound casual.

"Yeah," Happy replied, pausing a moment and cocking her head, looking at him as if she were analyzing a malfunctioning intake manifold. "I'll see you tomorrow, O'Brien."

The genius continued up the stairs, confused at everything he'd just heard. He would simply have to think about it all later. He knew he wasn't the best at rules of social interaction, but even he knew he couldn't ask either of the women about a conversation that he'd been eavesdropping on. As he came around the bookcase that served to screen his living area from the stairway, he noted a plate with a barely touched sandwich on the table and Ralph apparently sleeping on the couch. Paige was standing at the small sink.

"Hey," he called, wondering if she would even talk to him after what happened earlier. He decided that Ralph might constitute neutral ground. From there, hopefully he could determine if they would be okay. "How is he?"

The young mother smiled and launched into a proud discourse on how well her son had coped during their ordeal and how excited she was that his classmate was also impressed enough to ask for a playdate.

Walter smiled. They would be just fine.

* * *

April 23, 2016

 **Author's Note:** This is the result of my first prompt request on Tumblr. I hope you enjoyed it.

The request - Send me: a scorpion character; an episode name; a sentence, quote or phrase up to 7 words

The prompt - Walter/Paige, Crazy Train, "girl, I can't help it, that I feel like this."


End file.
